Ten men should have won, says proud McInnes
Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes insisted the better team lost at Easter Road.
The Ayrshire side were left with an uphill struggle when Ash Taylor was sent for an early bath after only 10 minutes for a last-man challenge on Martin Boyle.
To make matters worse Joe Newell put the Leith outfit ahead with the resultant free-kick.
Despite beating Hearts 1-0 in an energysapping 90 minutes across Edinburgh on Wednesday night, Killie still looked menacing on the counter right up until the full-time whistle.
And McInnes insisted his team could be proud of their efforts.
He said: “I thought we were good. I thought we were even better with 10 men.
“It was challenging going behind. It was a double whammy, losing the goal from the redcard incident.
“Going behind with 10 men at a place like Easter Road was going to be a real challenge for us.
“But I thought the better team lost the game, to be honest.
“I thought we were the better team. We showed good imagination, good thought.
“We spoke at half-time about getting one-and-ahalf performances from every player.
“And after the exertions of Wednesday at Tynecastle I was concerned about the latter stages.
“But I genuinely felt there was something there for us and that’s testament to the spirit we have.
“The mentality not to roll over. Hibs had chances but they never played through us, never opened us up.
“I never felt we were under duress.
“I just felt we could have been cuter to open them up and maybe get an opportunity to get an equaliser.
“But there is absolutely zero criticism of my players after we went down to 10 men.”
McInnes, however, insisted his defence should have been more alert over the red card incident. He added: “We’re kicking ourselves because we have played against Martin Boyle long enough.
“You know the pace he has, you don’t want to leave too much grass in behind.”
Although McInnes had no complaints over referee John Beaton’s decision to send off Taylor, he believes the official should have pointed to the spot when Ben Chrisene and Hibs defender Chris Cadden tangled inside the area.
He added: “My first thought was that it was a sending off, maybe Joe Wright was coming round.
“I also thought we should have had a penalty in the first half, Ben Chrisene chops inside and drives into the box and Cadden gets nothing on the ball and takes my player down.”